CYBERBULLYING AND WHAT IT IS

CYBERBULLYING AND WHAT IT IS:


Gone are the days when a child’s home was a refuge from playground or neighborhood 

bullies. The Internet is the new playground, and there are no off-hours. Tech-savvy 

students are turning to cyberspace to harass their peers using a new method of bullying

—cyberbullying, which is willful and repeated harm (i.e. harassing, humiliating, or 

threatening text or images) inflicted through the Internet, interactive technologies 

or mobile phones. There is no escape from those who are being cyberbullied— kids can 

be bullied anytime, anywhere. 

Get the Discussion Started: 
Information you can glean from your child’s online use will help to ensure a safer 

online environment for your child. 

Ask your child: 

• Are your profiles set to private?
• Would it be easy for someone to track you down?
• How many online “friends” do you have?
• What kind of information do you consider safe? Unsafe?
• Have you posted anything that you wouldn’t want your school assembly to see?
• What messages do your pictures and postings portray?
• Have you been contacted by a stranger?
• Have your friends ever put themselves at risk? If so, what did you do about it?
• Have you ever said/posted anything online you wish you could take back?
• Has anyone ever hurt your feelings by anything they posted about you online?

Forty three percent of teens aged 13 to 17 report that they have experienced some sort 

of cyberbullying in the past year! 


Cyberbullying Tactics Gossip:

Posting or sending cruel gossip to damage a person’s reputation and relationships with 

friends, family and acquaintances Exclusion: Deliberately excluding someone from an 

online group;

Impersonation: Breaking into someone’s email or other online account and sending 

messages that will cause embarrassment or damage to the person’s reputation and affect 

his/her relationship with others;
 
Harassment: Repeatedly posting or sending offensive, rude, and insulting messages;

 
Cyber-stalking: Posting or sending unwanted or intimidating messages, which may 

include threats;
 
Flaming: Online fights where scornful and offensive messages are posted on 

websites, forums, or blogs;
 
Outing and Trickery: Tricking someone into revealing secrets or embarrassing 

information, which is then shared online;

Cyber-threats: Remarks on the Internet threatening or implying violent behavior, 

displaying suicidal tendencies. 



What can parents do?

Do not erase or delete messages from cyberbullies. Your children do not have to read the

messages they receive from bullies, but they (or you) do need to keep messages as

evidence. To report cyberbullying, it is important to save as much info as you can. 

The more you save, the easier it will be to track down the people that are bothering 

your child. (Save the email, email address, date and time received, copies of all 

relevant emails, screenshots, etc.). And parents should use software to block bullies 

if they encounter them through chat or IM and use privacy settings on social networking

pages. Tell your children they do not have to accept any Cyberbullying victims experience

online activity that is meant to intimidate, threaten, tease or harm them or anyone else.

Giving bullies the same negative effects as attention is exactly what they want, so 

ignore them as those bullied “offline.” 

Encourage your children to talk to you if anybody says or does something online that 

makes them feel some cases, school violence or uncomfortable or threatened.

Stay calm and keep open lines of communication with your children. Make sure you or 

your children tell their school if the bullying is school related or involves another 

student. If you or made public online for an your children are threatened with harm, 

contact your unlimited audience to view. 

Watch out for warnings signs, such as reluctance to use the computer, a change in 

your child's behavior and mood, or reluctance to go to school. 

Tell your children to guard their contact information. Children should assume that 

people will use the information on their profile to cause them harm. Tell your 

children that they should not put anything online that they wouldn't want their 

worst enemy to find out about. Remind your children that the people they befriend 

online have open access to all of their posted content and information and they can 

forward or use any of that information against them. 

Remind your children that those who bully want to make their victims feel as if there 

is something wrong with them, but victims should know that there is nothing wrong with 

them; it is the bullies who have the real problem. 

-Birdy